Rachel Goodwin
Hello! I am a broadcast journalism junior with a passion for writing and design. I love being a part of Gaylord College and cannot wait to graduate one year from now! Upon graduation, I would like to travel the world and get my name out there as well as meet many new and interesting people. I come from a really small town so I'm very close with my friends and family. I also love to dance and would like to open my own studio some day! The Goodwin Name The name Goodwin dates back, as far as I can find it, to the year 1610. In these early findings there seems to be an inconsistency with where my family lived but I believe it’s from immigration back and forth to England. Moreover, the Goodwin name has gone through a timeline of change in its spelling. Also, a lot of the men in my family were soldiers in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Beginning in Oxfordshire, England, the last name was actually ‘Godwin’. His name was Devereux Godwin and he was born in 1610. Finding his parents wasn’t possible, although, I did discover his marriage history to a woman named Christian who was born in 1611 and also from Oxfordshire, England. Christian died in Swalcliffe Oxford on November 17, 1632. . Devereux later married again to Elizabeth Foster in 1637 in which they had three children: Joseph Godwin, Susan Godwin and Caesar Godwin. They immigrated and arrived at the United States in Maryland in 1638. Devereux later died in 1676 at age 66 where Joseph carried on his Godwin name. Joseph Godwin was born on August 12, 1636 and at age 17 came to Virginia in 1653. He married at age 23 in 1659 to a woman named Mary Patrick. They had four children: Devereux II, Francis, Josepha Maria and Daniel Godwin. Passing away at 61 in 1698 in Northhampton, Virginia, his son Daniel Godwin, began a family of his own. Daniel married twice; once to a woman named Mary Hazzard and later to another woman named Elesheba Benthall at 33 years old. They ended up having 7 children: Caesar, Esther, Jeremiah, Mary, Daniel II, Nahor and yet another Joseph. Daniel Godwin lived longer than his father and grandfather, dying at the age of 81 in 1772 in Worcester, Maryland. Where it gets interesting.. Where my patrilineage gets complicated is with their immigration causing the beginning of the transformation of the name. Coming from England to the United States, the name ‘Godwin’ transformed to ‘Goodwyn’. Whether it was a mistake on a birth certificate or a purposeful change, Joseph Godwin, now Goodwyn, carried it through for one generation. He actually married three times first to Mary Ann Adames, then Martha Thweatt and last to Jane from Sussex, Virginia at age 62 in 1794. Joseph and two of his wives had a crazy amount of children. Joseph and Mary Ann had eight children. The first six, Kimuel, Langston, Nahor II, Preston, Rachel and Rebecca were named with Godwin and the last two, Mary and Joseph, held the Goodwyn name. And this name was continued with his next wife, Martha. However it wasn’t consistent. ‘Goodwyn’ and ‘Goodwyne’ were interchanged while ‘Goodwin’ finally begin to emerge with one of their sons Matthew. The rest of the children were Martha, Tabitha, Thomas, John, Peterson, Jacob, Mary, Esau, Amy, Braddock and David. And David Goodwin is whom the story continues with. David was born in St David Parish; Darlington, South Carolina on February 24, 1793 and at age 27 lived in St Thomas, Cheraws, South Carolina. David married twice once to Mary Taylor and then to Nancy Carter in his 30s. The name Goodwin was finally kept and continued to their children Robert, William, Isaac, Mary Ann and Jane Elizabeth Goodwin. David passed in 1838 in White, Tennessee where the family name lived for a while. And the rest is history..(in which it gets kind of confusing with so many children!) Isaac T Goodwin was born on December 25, 1809 in Chesterfield, South Carolina and at only 20 years old married Charity Linville in Tennessee and in 1854 remarried to a woman named Jane Soape at age 44 in Warren, Tennessee. Once again the children Isaac had were numerous. Isaac and Charity had Louisa Ann, James Dossey, Mary Susannah, William Aldolphus, Robert Mitchell, Isaac II, Margaret Caroline, Martha Jane and Joseph Dillard. And with his later wife Jane, they had Elizabeth, Jeremiah, Thomas Sheridan and Elizabeth Bessie Goodwin. In 1885, Isaac died and James Dossey moved on. James Dossey Goodwin married twice and had children with only one wife. Her name was Mary J. Keith. This particular part of my family name is one of my favorites for two reasons. Of their children William, George, Louisa, Sarah, James and Rheda, they named one of their daughters Rachel. I’m not named after this Rachel Goodwin because my parents did not know this far back in history at the time I was born, but it’s really cool to see my name in the family in the 1880s. My other favorite part of this generation is the moves made by the family. They moved from Tennessee to Boone, Arkansas, to Hale, Texas and on into Stratford, Oklahoma where the family name Goodwin is today. James Dossey Goodwin died at 79 where James, one of his sons, continued the name yet again. James S Goodwin married Euphemia Jones in 1892 at 24 years old and had six children, one specifically named James Walter Goodwin which is my dad’s grandfather and my great grandfather. ' A son of James Walter Goodwin named James Timothy Goodwin was my dad’s father. They lived in Ada, OK most of the time. He left my dad and my grandmother when my dad and his sister were young. James Timothy would’ve been my grandpa. However, he died in 1996 from emphysema. My dad was never close to him but was always close to James’s wife and my great grandma Lona Evannah Beene who he called “Granny Peat”. My Ma-Ma or my dad’s mom is named Wyoma Julyne Houchen but goes by Judy Houchen. She divorced my grandpa James Timothy in 1973 after being married for 11 years. This pretty much left her and my dad disconnected from the Goodwin name until my research now.' Where we call "home" As far as my dad's side of the family, they would call Ada, Okla. home for sure. Until about 10 years ago, ALL of my dad's side of the family, that we saw on holidays, etc., lived in Ada or the surrounding areas. After he and his siblings started families everyone kind of went their seperate days but still in the state of Oklahoma. My dad, (Timothy) Mark Goodwin (pictured in the blue tank top in the middle, pictured below) was born in Ada and his mother and my grandmother Judy Houchen (pictured in the white shirt below) still lives there today. She continued to raise her family in different towns but they were almost always central to Ada; Tishimingo, Maud and Seminole to name a few. For my mom's side of the family, they come from the complete other side of the state or spectrum, if you will. My mom, Diana Jean Goodwin (pictured in the beige shirt below, between my sister and I), grew up in Tulsa, Okla. most of her childhood. Her mom and my grandmother, Peggy Gertrude Ferguson (formely Steele, maiden name Farney) moved her and my grandpa, Gene Steele (deceased 1998), around very frequently. When my mom reached the third and fourth grade, they moved to Eufaula, Okla. and stayed until my mom graduated and went onto college. My grandma Peggy moved back to Tulsa, Okla. after my grandpa passed and still resides there with my new grandpa and her new husband of almost 10 years, Ed Ferguson (pictured in the black shirt and black ball cap below). And of course, my mom, dad, sister and I call Eufaula, Okla. home. I've never lived anywhere else but there until I moved to Norman, Okla. Traditions and Celebrations! Every year, sometimes twice a year depending on the weather, my dad's side of the family, my sister, my mom and I all travel to what we call Anvil Rock in southern Oklahoma. Anvil Rock is where our family cemetery is nestled away in the trees in the middle of a huge pasture. With only visiting a couple of times, the grass and weeds grow very tall, towering over all of the beautiful and one-of-a-kind head stones. So bringing lunch, packing multiple lawn mowers, shovels, rakes and our most recent family stories, we spend the entire day at Anvil Rock. And sometimes, if we visit during the summer, we swim in the creek down the road! Pictured below is a before and after of our family cemetery. BEFORE: Anvil Rock, Houchen Family cemetery, Summer 2010. AFTER: My grandmother, whom I call my 'Ma-Ma' on my dad's side of the family, walking away from the beautiful job just completed at Anvil Rock. Summer 2010. 0521010825.jpg 0521011233.jpg For my mom's side of the family and traditions, we get together most Easters, Thanksgivings and Christmases. Since my aunt (my grandmother's sister) passed a few years ago, the get-togethers have been a little less frequent. However, my grandmother travels very often from Tulsa to Eufaula during the summer to spend time with my sister, mom, dad and I especially because my sister's birthday is on June 5. The picture below is at Lake Eufaula during the summer of 2011. And of course for traditions within my immediate family (my mom, dad and sister) we have MANY! However, one of our favorites have to do with two seasons that are exactly the opposite. Take a watch;) Winter family tradition: snow sledding! Summer family tradition: 4th of July fireworks! Gender roles, expectations, race issues, etc... For as long as I can remember my mom has been a teacher. She still is and is an amazing one. As a matter of fact she is nationally board certified! My dad, who now works for PetroQuest energy/oil company out of the McAlester, Okla. area, was always a police officer. He started out in Eufaula, Okla. of course and then moved on to working in Okmulgee, Okla. Unlike my mom, my dad fell out of love with his profession because of issues going on within the station, nonetheless, both of my parents have always been EXTREMELY positive influences on me. I have never been expected to fulfill a certain gender role because I am a female. Whether it has to do with my future career or just how I acted through grade school, I was only expected to do my best. And besides my best, all they ever asked and still only ask for is respect. All of my family, on both sides, are Caucasian. Some of my younger family members have dated other races but as far as marriage and children we are Caucasian. There are some traces of Native American on both sides of my family but the percentage is too small to be anything too important. I have never had or seen a problem with race issues within my family. My parents have always wanted me and my sister to be happy, successful and make friends with everyone no matter what race, gender or ethnicity. How do I know all of this? I received a HUGE amount of information from ancestry.com and what didn't satisfy from that, I simply spoke to my family. I didn't use any other website just because I wanted to learn from my family themselves. Here is the link to the 'Goodwin' family tree. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/47853042/family As far as the 'Steele' or 'Farney' side of the family (my mother's) almost all relatives are deceased (that would have great and helpful information) or they have chosen to not communicate since my grandpa Gene passed. My amazing source of information for this side of my family would definitely be my mom and my grandma. My reflections I have learned a plethora of information about both sides of my family that I hadn't known before as well as learning how my own name transformed all the way from England! I have become closer with some other members of my family that I wasn't before and I simply had a lot of fun, especially with the pictures! After taking this class, reading other's wikis and completing this assignment I have realized one true thing: we are who we want to be. No matter what race, ethnicity, gender or class we are, we choose what we want to believe, who we want to include in our lives and what we want to represent. Whether it's standing for our families, our minorities or our fellow students, we can all make a difference in the breaks and rifts of the media by breaking the stereotypes and proving that there's more to life than skin color and gender roles. Nothing like ending with pictures! :) Most of the pictures I referred to in the text are here below (and there's some extra just for fun!) VFW.jpg|Mom being inducted!|linktext=The Veteran of Foreign Wars Women's Auxiliary Post 8798. Famillyyyy.jpg|Boomer Sooner!|linktext=Me as a RUF/NEK Lil' Sis' Kelseys birthday.jpg|My sister's birthday! We were pretty young!|linktext=Skating Rink, Eufaula, Okla. 4th.jpg|4th of July!|linktext=R.T., K.P., Alivia (baby), D.J. and Jayden! 1212001705.jpg|Me with more cousins! (dad's side of the family)|linktext=Left to right: Heavyn, Matilyn and baby Lilyan! 1212001705.jpg|More cousins! Heavyn, Matilyn and Lilyan! halloweens1.jpg|Halloween 2011 with my family! Photo on 2012-04-14 at 17.06.jpg|Me and my cousin Alivia! (dad's niece's daughter) Photo on 2013-02-23 at 13.06 #2.jpg|Alivia (about a year later) and her brother Jayden! Category:Students